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Project Objectives

Although the existing level in the technology of Human-Computer Interfaces is high and mature, until now most interaction technologies have emphasized more the input channel (human afferent channel), rather than the output one (human efferent channel), foreground tasks rather than background contexts.

SKILLS IP aims, with a completely innovative approach, at developing new HCI technologies and devising new usages of existing ones to support people during the execution of complex tasks, help them to do things well or better, and make them more skilful in the execution of activities.

The new interfaces developed within SKILLS IP should possess the following functionalities:

  • capability of interfacing with the world, in order to get a comprehension of the status of the world;
  • capability of getting input from the humans through his/her efferent channel, in a way not disturbing the human from the execution of the main task (transparency);
  • local intelligence, that is the capability of having an internal and efficient representation of the task flow, correlating the task flow with the status of the environment during the human-world interaction process, understanding and predicting the current human status and behaviour, formulating precise indications on next steps of the task flow or corrective actions to be implemented;
  • capability of sending both information or action consequences in output towards the human, through his/her afferent channel, in a way that is not disturbing the human from the execution of the main task.

The interfaces will boost the capabilities of the afferent-efferent channel of humans, the exchange of information with the world, and the performance of undertaken actions, acting in synergy with the sensory-motor loop.

Interfaces will be technologically invisible at their best – not to decrease the human performance – and capable of understanding both the user intentions, current behaviour and purpose, contextualized in the task. They will display to the human subject the action possibilities that are available in the environment  and relevant for the purpose, guaranteeing:

  • Continuous visibility of the object of interest;
  • Rapid, incremental, sensible, physical actions on the object;
  • Immediate visible results.

This can be equivalently summarized in the saying “What you see is what you get”.

The project will address these objectives with the methodology of active psychophysics, augmenting psychology and interaction design.